Tiraan (continent)

The Elder Gods ruled from her, the Pantheon had their first temples here.

Geography

if one considers Calderaas at the center of the continent, to the south lay the fertile and densely inhabited Tira Valley, a broad, lush region through which its namesake river wound on its journey from Viridill to the sea, and widely considered the center of human civilization. Ancient city-states such as Madouris, Anteraas and Leineth traded, plotted and warred against one another, as they had since time immemorial, establishing the pattern for which humanity was known: ambition, aggression, adaptability. At the valley’s southernmost edge was the chilly sea, where, on the shorn-off mountain which stood amid the Tira Falls—long considered a sacred and untouchable place—the followers of all gods of the Pantheon had lately begun building temples and establishing a free and open center of worship, commerce and diplomacy.

North, the forests and plains around the Eternal City eventually yielded to the unmarked borders of the wood elves, who suffered no mortal trespassers in their lands, but were not much resented by the human nations, for they formed a bulwark protecting the southlands from the tribes of centaurs and savage plains elves who wandered the northern prairies. Further beyond that lay the rumored Golden Sea, a fabulous land of monstrosities and wonders, and farther still the under-kingdoms of the dwarves, who occasionally ventured south to trade, but were widely disinclined to share the details of their own rich societies with plunder-hungry mankind.

West, the forests rose quickly into the mountains of Viridill, ancient bastion of Avei’s worship in the north, and stretched out south of that into the dense, frigid pine forests of Athan’Khar, home to the mystical and warlike orcs. This was a region of brutal conflicts, where the forces of Avei and Khar met at the dark gates of Tar’naris, and three civilizations constantly clashed, struggling for resources and power. Still beyond those lands, past even the treacherous Wyrnrange, lay the mysterious kingdoms of the wild West, home to humans of a totally different breed who sometimes trafficked through Viridill to the Tira Valley civilizations, and vice versa. So hazardous was the journey that these two distinct groups of humans had limited interaction, and thought one another nearly as alien as the elves.

East, the hazards were more human in nature, where the hardy Stalweiss barbarians dwelt up in the Stalrange mountains. Their wild god, Shaath, constantly sent his Huntsmen to prowl the softer lands below, seeking any sign of weakness, and carrying off livestock, gold and women wherever they found it. Every so often the barbarians came boiling forth in greater numbers, having to be driven back only at great cost. There was little land east of the Stalrange, virtually all of it occupied by the seafaring Punaji, who had taught even the Stalweiss to step politely when visiting their enclaves.

But in the center of this, where plains, forests and mountains met, there was a broad expanse of hilly territory, less lush than the Tira Valley but still gentle, and in the center of this rose a lone mountain, out of sight of any of its neighboring ranges. In eons ancient beyond memory even in the time of the Elder Gods, it must have been a towering wonder, but this mountain was old even as mountains went, now a hill whose greatest dimensions were horizontal, never too steep to comfortably climb afoot. Its peak had long since collapsed inward, forming a colossal caldera, and in this was built the Eternal City, Calderaas.

Anteraas : ancient city state

Calderaas : the Eternal City

Dwarnskolds : the Spine, along the northern rim of the continent

Leineth : ancient city state

Madouris : ancient city state

Tira Falls

Tira River : Its course runs from Viridill, passing through the Tira Valley, and at its southermost edge, deversing in the sea at the Tira Falls.

Tira Valley : fertile and densely inhabited, its a broad, lush region through which its namesake river wound on its journey from Viridill to the sea, and widely considered the center of human civilization. Ancient city-states such as Madouris, Anteraas and Leineth traded, plotted and warred against one another, as they had since time immemorial, establishing the pattern for which humanity was known: ambition, aggression, adaptability. At the valley’s southernmost edge was the chilly sea, where, on the shorn-off mountain which stood amid the Tira Falls—long considered a sacred and untouchable place—the followers of all gods of the Pantheon had lately begun building temples and establishing a free and open center of worship, commerce and diplomacy.